Article+Summary+Morrow

__Popular Literacies and the “All” Children: Rethinking Literacy Development for Contemporary Childhood__ By Anne Haas Dyson Reviewed by Amy Morrow Anne Haas Dyson conducts an ethnographic study of 6 African-American first grade students (Denise, Vanessa, Marcel, Wenona, Noah, and Lakeisha) in an urban school located in east San Francico Bay. Their teacher, Rita, uses a variety of instructional techniques in the classroom: open-ended activities, writing workshop, individual and group writing activities. The six students in her study referred to themselves as “brothers and sisters”. Dyson refers to them as “fake brothers and sisters” in her article. The six students were observed and audio-taped on the playground and in the classroom during composing activities, and the parents were interviewed during the study. The article sets out to argue that “the assumption that “diverse” children come to school without literacy ignores the resources that they bring from popular media texts”. (Dyson, 2003) Dyson refers to the six students in the study to be the “all” children who are also the “different” children, who are neither white nor middle class. These “all” children are “ungirded by what might be called the “nothing”assumption”. (Dyson, 2003) The “nothing” assumption is based on the idea that no assumptions are made about any knowledge that children bring to school. As a result, the “all” children are taken through a scripted, systematic approach to teaching literacy which starts at the beginning to meet the “urgent” needs of the “all”children. Piaget & Inhelder (1969) and Vygotsky (1962) stated that “any learning must come from something, from some experience base that supports participation and sense-making in the designated learning tasks. (Dyson, 2003) Therefore, we make a serious mistake when we continue to believe that “diverse” children bring nothing. In the study Dyson, studies how the children play and communicate with each other. She discovered that the children had “textual” toys in the words and images around them. The article soon takes on the discussion of the metaphorical “drinking god”, after Denise, one of the six students in the study writes “I’m mad and I followed the drinking god” on her piece of paper in reflection to the study of the underground railroad. The class was finishing up a discussion of Jacob Lawrence and the underground railroad, which concluded with the learning of Pete Seeger’s song “Follow the Drinking Gourd”. Anne Dyson questioned why Denise wrote “drinking god” instead of “drinking gourd”, and it was quickly pointed out by Vanessa, Denise’s friend, that some say “gourd” and others say “god”. Denise was able to retell about the plights that Harriet Tubman and the slaves had to Dyson, but stuck with “drinking god”. Dyson’s article refers to the 1960’s when society was worried about meeting the needs of the “culturally disadvantaged” children. Ashton-Warner (1963) speaks to the concern about getting the curriculum to well-behaved children, with no time to waste. Anne goes onto say that even though we have a set sequence of instruction, it is the “drinking god” that allows children to have their own agendas and leads them to play “the very devil with orthodox method”. (Ashton-Warner, 1963, p. 103) Denise and Vanessa took their own experiences from life around them to help understand a concept. An example was that the two knew that “music is a symbol of affiliation, not only for them” and that “people speak different varieties of English” (i.e. voices with different rhythm and rhyme, and different ways of pronouncing sounds—drawn out or shortened). (p. 102) The “all” children curriculum doesn’t teach these concepts. As Dyson continued to observe and study the “all” children, she found that the popular media (hip-hop, radio deejays, sports announcers) around them was what helped them form their world. The popular medias around them assisted them in understanding textual models, characters, plot, and themes, as well as providing play material. When observing Marcel, Wenona, and Noah, Dyson discovered that they were influenced by the sports media around them, as they played they spoke about “Mighty Ducks” and “Cowboys”. They had busy schedules, agendas, practice schedules, babysitting for relatives, and homework to figure out. Each time they would give highlights and merits of the team and game. Through these activities, Marcel was able to manipulate textual material (and scores) to fit social situations. Denise and her “fake siblings” played “pretend radio” at recess as they took on the various voices, and manipulated words for pretend interviews with self. (Dyson, 2003) The students were able to pull from school and home landscapes to fit social and school situations. Dyson states in the article that we need to have flexibility in children’s responses because with rigidity can come the inability to adapt understanding to new tasks learned (Dyson, 2003) Marie Clay (1975) once noted, “Chance experiences may produce new experience.” Marcel did this when he recounted scores and games from his “sports world”. He wrote it up the way that a sports announcer would and was able to explain the paper. “The practice- the typified voices-of hip-hop radio, cartoon shows, and popular films all figured –in unexpected but ultimately productive ways into the written language trajectories of individual children, brothers, and sisters, growing up in these voice-filled times”. ( p. 107) Teachers need to take the time to find out about what their children can contribute to class and help them navigate through the symbolic tools and communicative practices, so as to help establish common ground. (p. 107) One way to accomplish this is through open-ended composing, and allowing children to share their work. As children bring their own background resources, the learning should be broadened, and more responsive to our students’ worlds. We as teachers need to work in environments that allow for this.
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